


For I Had Lost the Path

by emeralddarkness



Category: Yugioh, Yugioh 5Ds
Genre: Arcadia - Yugioh 5Ds, F/M, I love you I hate you, Season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-08
Updated: 2011-06-08
Packaged: 2017-10-20 05:49:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/209427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emeralddarkness/pseuds/emeralddarkness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aki hates Yuusei. She killed the last of her hope long ago; how dare he try to give it back to her?</p>
            </blockquote>





	For I Had Lost the Path

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 5Ds_100 challenge on livejournal, this is set shortly after the Fortune Cup but before all the madness of season 2 really gets started.
> 
> At least the madness involving Arcadia.

His words had cut her down to the soul and then impaled it, they were a fiery brand, and it hurt more than anything had for years. This was mostly because it wasn't possible, and there was absolutely _nothing_ that cut deeper or burned hotter than hope, and therefore nothing that caused quite so much pain.

The trouble with hope was that it was very difficult to kill - it had taken her years the first time, and only Divine's soothing presence and sweet acceptance had left her with anything like peace on the subject. He had helped her kill her hope, because he had given her something in return. She had only to do what he said, she had only to let him love her, she had only to let him think for her, to close her eyes and do what he asked and give him her poor, raw heart and let him take it. The very act of giving it away was all that gave her her strength, and she knew that there wasn't any chance that things would change for the better.

 _Witch, monster, she's a witch, she's a witch, she shouldn't live, she doesn't deserve to-_

It was ridiculous, because she had only close her eyes and she could hear the crowds during last week's duel, echoing the same words and sentiments that had haunted her for the past 11 years, _she's a witch, a monster, wicked, evil, witch witch WITCH_ , and it was a title that she had embraced and come to terms with, it was who she _was_ , there was no use trying to change that. And yet, on top of the words and the faceless jeering, the mockery and the screaming and everything else, there _he_ was, _his_ face, his damnable, wretched voice fiercely urging her to more as his blue eyes burned into hers even through the safe, protective, comforting distance provided by the smooth expanse of her mask. The dull roar of hatred from the crowd on every side, thousands of people, somehow couldn't take away the memory of that one voice, and his message of love and forgiveness and hope-

Aki wanted to hurt something. She wanted to hurt him, specifically, for cursing her with hope once more, but he was the King, and would doubtless be surrounded by his court, just as the old King had been; getting close would probably be almost impossible. Besides, to make such decisions on her own would be thinking for herself, and in addition to that being something that she hadn't willingly done for years, that would only be giving him what he wanted. That wouldn't be good; quite apart from being the messenger with a message that she never wanted to hear again, he seemed to be one of Godwin's followers, and so anything _he_ wanted her to do was doubtless some attempt at sabotage. She knew that Security wanted her, wanted her for the despicable mark on her arm. But they wouldn't have her and she wouldn't listen, because Divine....

It was odd, how he always seemed to know what she was thinking, and what she needed.

"Ah, Aki, I was wondering how you were doing? I realize that last duel must have been difficult for you. It is not often that you lose."

"I was well taught," she replies, and he laughs at her, his smile warm and gentle and kind and everything that she hadn't had in years, how dare Yuusei suggest she walk away from that?

"And I suppose that is not the only reason," Divine said gently - and Aki, whose calm had been shattered by _hope_ , flinched a little.

"To think that they would sink so low... only I can save you, Aki."

"I know," she'd murmured, and stood looking at a random point on the wall until she felt the cool leather of his glove brush her face. That was when she'd looked up at his face, heart thundering painfully in her chest.

"How could a serpent teach a bird to fly?" he'd asked, a smile at the edges of his mouth. It seemed so simple when he framed it that way. Divine was the only one she could trust, and the only one who knew what to do. But still, in the corners of her mind, a proud, angry voice was insisting that she needed to love herself.


End file.
